Monthly Archives: September 2010
If you want to do this, turn to page 24.
Remember “Choose Your Own Adventure” books?
It’s great that real life can be that way too. Life can be an adventure, if you view life as a journey. Sure we’ve got destinations in mind, things we’d like to see and do along the way. But I’ve enjoyed life more since I gave up only viewing life as a destination (e.g. “Where do I want to be when I turn 30 or 40 or 50?). In fact, often some of the best times I have in life is when I just stop worrying about it, dive in, and enjoy the journey for whatever it is. Just ask Wife… even if we’re driving and get lost, we never sweat it… we view it as an opportunity to see somewhere we haven’t before, so while we work to right ourselves towards our destination, we still take in the journey that we’re on.
Why ramble as such?
Well… two things are presently rolling through my head, that will change the course of my journey.
The first is simple. While I’ve been wanting to look into practicing Aikido, I drove by a boxing gym the other day. I got a taste of western boxing while I attended Warrior’s Edge, and I liked it. I find when I’m deciding what I want to do at home for a workout, often I gravitate towards doning the boxing gloves and shadow boxing and working out on the heavy bag. So… a spark has reignited. Will I take the Aikido path, or the boxing path? We’ll see. Thinking it all over.
The second? Well… can’t talk about it right now. But if it happens (and hopefully it will), it’ll change things for the whole family. 
Anywhere is possible
“I saw him, and I heard the gun shots. My first thought was, ‘God, this is not real, not on our campus, not here,’” sophomore Tanisha Bush said.
Yes. It can happen there, on your campus. It can happen anywhere. Evil knows no bounds.
Will Doggett debate?
Dr. Donna Campbell is running Texas Congressional District 25′s seat. That seat is presently held by Lloyd Doggett.
Dr. Campbell has requested a debate with Rep. Doggett.
So far, no response from the Doggett camp.
C’mon, Lloyd. What are you afraid of?
Dave Mustaine on life and politics
Dave Mustaine, the man behind Megadeth, summarizes his politics, religion, and general outlook on life:
It’s pretty simple for me, really. I want to be able to carry a gun; listen to whatever music I like; eat, drink, and be merry; and not hurt anyone else (the exception, obviously, being self-defense). It’s an abbreviated Sermon on the Mouth: treat other people the way you want to be treated.
$afety, of cour$e
Lo$ Angele$ City Controller relea$e$ an audit $aying red light camera$ don’t improve $afety.
You don’t $ay?
$o why do they have the$e camera$ in the fir$t place?
Awareness by any other acronym is still Awareness
In motorcycle rider safety classes they have SIPDE:
Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute
or sometimes it get simplified to SPA:
Search, Predict, Act
The book, Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere says:
Perception, Evaluation-Decision, Reaction
Detect, Defuse, Defend
There’s the good old OODA loop:
Observe, Orient, Decide, Act
Whatever acronym you choose, whatever paradigm it’s used in, they all start with the same thing:
Awareness
You need to be aware of your surroundings. Your eyes need to be seeing. Your ears need to be hearing. There may things for your nose to smell, your tongue to taste, or your body to touch and feel. You cannot have your nose in a book, in an iPhone or iPad, headphones blaring music into your ears. These things keep you from being aware of your surroundings, and then… what are you missing? and is missing that a good thing?
It’s not just self-defense either. It’s useful while driving. It’s useful because maybe that cute girl or guy across the room is trying to get your attention. Because that job opportunity may be fleeting. Because that business prospect may be a diamond in the rough.
It all starts with Awareness.
Shooting at the University of Texas
So today there was an odd shooting at the University of Texas.
I say odd because, at least from reports we have so far, 19-year-old Colton Tooley took an AK-47 (and are we sure it’s an AK?), fired some shots, then went into the university library and shot and killed himself.
Why?
It didn’t seem to fit your typical “I want attention, I’ll hit up a gun-free zone, shoot people until either I’m killed or confronted and kill myself” paradigm. Death by cop. Wants attention. Sucidal. etc.
I am reading lots of opinion and speculation about the matter, and then people getting upset about speculation… and of course, everyone’s personal bias flows through.
At this point the only thing I can say is I’m puzzled, and people need to withhold speculation and filling in the gaps with their own suppositions and conclusions. We need to wait for facts to come forward. Yes, we all want to know “why?”, but we can’t be filling in those gaps with our own guesses and consider it fact. I would like to believe that more information will come to light in the coming days. Just have to be patient.
Magpul Dynamics – The Art of the Dynamic Shotgun
While yes, I’m still very fond of the AR, I have found myself more and more drawn to the shotgun (for defensive purposes or otherwise).
Now that Magpul Dynamics is continuing their DVD series with one on shotguns? Ooo…. want.
Good
Remember that motorcyclist that videotaped his police stop, where the officer drew his gun, wasn’t justified in doing so, and then after the video was posted to YouTube the Maryland State Police raided the motorcyclist’s home and was charged with violating wiretapping laws?
The wiretapping charges were dropped.
Glad to see there’s a judge that gets it:
Judge Emory A. Pitt Jr. had to decide whether police performing their duties have an expectation of privacy in public space. Pitt ruled that police can have no such expectation in their public, on-the-job communications.
Pitt wrote: “Those of us who are public officials and are entrusted with the power of the state are ultimately accountable to the public. When we exercise that power in public fora, we should not expect our actions to be shielded from public observation. ‘Sed quis custodiet ipsos cutodes’ (“Who watches the watchmen?”).”
Emphasis mine.
Good.
New look
Since I’m using wordpress.com for my blog hosting, I’m limited in what themes/appearance I can give my blog. Of course, I could sit down and master CSS one of these days, but in the meantime, I just pick from what they provide.
They just posted this new theme, Fusion, and I really like it. Clean, readable. The previous them I used, Light, wasn’t bad… mostly chosen because of all available themes it was the cleanest and most appropriate I could find at the time. But now seeing Fusion, this is more what I want.
So, changed themes, went through settings and tweaked a few things with the blog. Hopefully it’s a little nicer, a little easier to read now. I like.
